No Questions Asked
by LochNessie17
Summary: After witnessing something that causes her to question everything she has ever known about love, Santana Lopez decides to cast the feeling off as nothing more than an enigma no one can ever truly attain, but what if she is wrong? What if all she needs is a little help from a friend in order to see the love that has been right in front of her all along?
1. World Turning

Brittany knew it from the moment Santana stepped foot into the classroom. She had been the Latina's best friend since she was six years old, and in that time, she had developed a knack for reading the girl like a book. Today, something was wrong. She could feel it.

The brunette walked in five minutes after the tardy bell had rung, mumbling a quiet apology to their teacher before taking her assigned seat across the room from Brittany. That was red flag number one. Santana Lopez does not apologize. Ever. Red flag number two came when Brittany noticed the tired, red puffiness of her eyes.

The longer Brittany studied her friend, the more irregularities continued to surface. The Latina's usual pristine high ponytail was loose and unkempt, and she was wearing street clothes instead of her cheerleader uniform. Once seated, Santana barely moved. In fact, she maintained her gaze on the cheesy motivational poster at the front of the room all the way up until the end of the class period.**  
**

As soon as the bell sounded, Brittany packed up her things and darted over to Santana's desk to find that the girl had already left, which only caused her worry to escalate. Santana always waited for her so she could help the blonde find her next class, but Brittany was quick to push away the hurt feelings bubbling up in her chest. She was sure that the brunette just had a lot going on in her head and wasn't as focused as she normally was. Santana would never just leave her. She was sure of it.

* * *

Brittany eventually found her way to her locker after taking a wrong turn or two to find the brunette there waiting for her and gave her a bright smile as she greeted, "Good morning, San."

Santana instantly snapped her gaze up from where she had been staring at the floor, revealing the dark circles that lined the underside of her eyes. The girl looked exhausted.

"Britt, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to leave without you. I just-"

"It's okay, San. Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you're here now because I don't think I'd ever be able to get to class on time without your help, assuming you still want to, that is."

The brunette gave her a small but warm smile, "Of course."

"Awesome. Let me just switch out my books real quick so we can go," Brittany said as she turned to unlock her locker, but it wasn't long before she realized that she had completely forgotten the combination. After standing there for a moment, she felt a gentle hand being placed on the small of her back, causing her to tear her eyes away from her stare down with the lock to glance over to the brunette beside her.

"It's okay, B. I got it," Santana offered as she slid in front of her and startedto spin the dial while Brittany just stood there feeling slightly embarrassed for needing so much assistance. "There you go. It's open," the Latina informed, pulling the blonde out of her distracted daze.

Glancing over to the other girl, Brittany mumbled a shy, "Thank you, San," before turning her attention back to the now open locker so she could retrieve everything she needed for her next class, shutting the door and locking it back behind her. **  
**

"Anytime," Santana replied with a broad grin as she reached out and wrapped her pinky around Brittany's, giving it a squeeze before motioning her head in the direction of the blonde's next class.

Just as the pair started to make their way down the hall, they heard an angry voice yell out from behind them, "Santana! Where the hell were you this morning?"

Gritting her teeth, Santana let her finger slip from Brittany's and spun around, "Look, Fabray, I'm not exactly in the mood to deal with your shit today so please just leave me alone."

"Oh,_ you're_ the one who's not in the mood to deal with _me_? That's rich. I guess Brittany hasn't mentioned how I had to cover for you this morning when Coach Sylvester asked where you were. She made me run the entire practice for your stupid ass because it's apparently my fault that you couldn't manage to wake up on time."

Having heard enough, Santana stormed up to where Quinn was standing and brought herself within an inch of the girl's face as she spoke in a low growl, "I already tried to play nice, Baby Mama, but Auntie Snix is about to drop by for a visit if you don't learn how to shut your trap. I already told you that this morning hasn't been good for me so just accept it and walk away."

The two cheerleaders stood there staring at one another for a few more seconds before Santana finally decided to just drop the situation so she could get Brittany to class on time. She didn't get far, however, before Quinn roughly grabbed her by the arm and pulled the brunette back towards her. Clutching her hand into a tight fist, Santana turned around with every intention of hitting her square in the face when she felt gentle fingers quickly wrap around her wrist.

"Stop the violence," Brittany quietly pled, effectively stopping Santana in her tracks.

Shoving Quinn off of her with the arm the head cheerleader had been clutching onto, she took off down the hallway with Brittany following close behind.**  
**

After rounding the corner, Santana slowed down to a walk so the blonde could catch up to her. As soon as Brittany was at her side, she felt her friend lace their little fingers together once more, swinging their hands back in forth a little to lighten the mood as they continued to walk. Letting out a huff of air, the Latina released the tension in her shoulders.

"Are you okay?" Brittany tentatively asked after a couple minutes of silence, glancing over with a look of concern.**  
**

"Yeah, I'll be okay. I just can't wait for this day to be over."

"Did something happen?"

Santana felt her entire body freeze in response to the question, but she quickly willed herself to keep moving forward.

"I'm sorry, B, but I don't really want to talk about it right now."**  
**

"No, it's okay. I understand. Just know that I'm here if you need me, alright?" Brittany offered with the same caring tone her voice always held during moments when Santana's defenses were up.

Quick to reassure her friend, Santana responded with a head nod and a quiet, "Yeah, I know."

Finally making it to their destination, Brittany turned to face the brunette, "Good. So, should I just wait here after class?"

"Yeah, I'll come back as soon as I can."

"Okay, I guess I'll see you then," Brittany responded as she released her friend's finger.

"Yeah, see you then, Britt-Britt."

The blonde hesitated for a moment before she suddenly wrapped Santana up in a hug and quietly whispered into her ear, "I hope your day gets better."

"It already is," Santana replied as she returned the gesture. Gently pulling away, she added, "You should probably get in there before you're late."

Nodding in agreement, Brittany said a quick farewell before turning toward the classroom.

As she watched the other girl disappear behind the door frame, Santana couldn't help but feel as if most, if not all, of the light in her day had left with her, leaving her to dwell on the thoughts of what had happened the previous evening. It wasn't until the tardy bell had sounded that she remembered where she was and rushed off to class, knowing full well that she was going to be written up again for being late and mentally added it as one more thing that had gone wrong for her that morning.

* * *

The rest of the day passed quickly with Santana meeting Brittany after every class to help her find where she needed to go. After school, Santana walked Brittany to the choir room and stopped just outside the door.

Realizing that the Latina was no longer following her, Brittany turned around to ask, "Aren't you coming inside?"**  
**

Santana gave a slight shake of her head, replying, "No, I have to go to detention. You know what they say: third tardy's a charm. Plus, I don't think I can deal with any of their idiocy today, especially Wannabe Streisand and her orangutan of a boyfriend. I swear you and I are the only two people in this ridiculous club with a functioning brain, and my fuse is already short enough as it is. There's no telling what would happen if those assclowns gave me a reason to blow up on them."

"Cosas malas?" Brittany inquired with a knowing smirk, which Santana quickly returned.

"Yeah, Britt. _Very_ bad things."

Hearing everyone inside the room start to quiet down, Brittany took a quick peek to see what was going on and looked back to Santana, "Okay, well everyone is starting to get seated so I guess I'll talk to you later."

"Alright. Later, B."

As soon as Brittany left, Santana made her way towards the cafeteria to spend the following hour of her life doing absolutely nothing but sitting in a cold, hard plastic chair.

She had been absentmindedly tapping her fingertips on top of the lunch table in front of her for about five minutes when the seat next to her was suddenly pulled out. Noticing a big blur sit down, she didn't even think twice before she asked, "What'd you do this time, Puck?"

"Just the same old same. Mrs. Nelson caught me making out with one of the JV cheerleaders in the girl's bathroom again. You know, I think they have finally started to catch on to the fact that suspension isn't going to work since they only assigned me three weeks worth of detention."

Santana rolled her eyes before glancing over at the boy beside her, "Wow, how very _unsurprising_ of you, but seriously, are those JV skanks really the best you could do?"

"You know me, Babe. I don't care where they are on the social pyramid as long as their willing to put out for good ol' Puckasaurus."

Santana let out a loud groan, "How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling yourself that? It's obnoxious. Oh, and don't call me 'Babe,' either. The last thing I need is for people to think we're together."

"Whatever. Anyways, what made you decide to grace all of us consistent troublemakers with your presence?"

"My inability to make it to class on time."

"Nice. All three tardies in one day?"

"No, just two, which means I wouldn't even have to be here if Sue hadn't made me stay back after morning practice yesterday to make sure all the dimwitted freshmen put her equipment up right."

"Well, I guess that's what you get for being the co-head cheerleader, or should I say Quinn's bitch?"

"For the last time, I'm not her bitch!" Santana warned before she added, "Speaking of the Ice Queen, she's also partially to blame for me being here."

"Oh? What did she do this time?"

"Pitch a fit in the middle of the hallway because I missed practice this morning. She's lucky Britt was there to stop me before I kicked her ass," Santana hissed through clenched teeth, feeling her anger from earlier beginning to resurface.

"Wow, sounds like you're the epitome of punctuality today."

"Yeah, and it sounds like you decided to finally crack open a dictionary. Congratulations on the expanded vocabulary, Suckerman," Santana spat back with a glare.

Puck instantly threw his hands up in defense, "Hey, chill. I was just joking. There's no need to get hostile."

"Whatever," the girl muttered under her breath as she turned back towards the front of the room to wait out her detainment period.

Once the hour was up, Santana took off without a word in search of her car so she could finally go home. The Latina had almost made it across the school's parking lot when she noticed Brittany standing there, waiting for her.

"Hey, Britt-Britt. What are you still doing here?"

Greeting her with a wide grin, the blonde replied, "After I got out of Glee, I noticed that you only had a little while left before you got out, too, so I figured I'd just wait out here since I remembered there was something I meant to ask you earlier."

"Why didn't you just text me?"

Brittany immediately ducked her head in embarrassment as she nervously drug her foot against the paved cement beneath her, answering with an honest, "I don't know. I just felt like waiting for you."

Sensing the girl's uneasiness, Santana quickly reassured, "Oh, okay. That's fine. What did you want to ask me?"

"Well, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to come over for dinner. Mom's cooking lasagna tonight, and she asked me to invite you since she knows how much you love it. She also gave the okay for you to stay over if you want."

"I-" Santana started, but the words soon died on her lips. Taking a deep breath, she answered, "I can't tonight, Britt. Sorry."

"A-alright. That's cool. No worries."

Hearing the dejected tone in Brittany's voice, Santana quickly responded, "Hey, please don't be upset, B. I really do wish I could be there. I've just had a really, really long day and need to go home to process it all, okay? Otherwise, I would _so_ be there to eat your mom's amazing lasagna with you and the rest of the Pierce clan." Leaning down a little to catch the blue eyes that were still diverted to the ground, she asked, "How about next time, huh? Can I take a rain check?"

Finally meeting Santana's gaze, Brittany gave her head a firm nod, "Of course."

"Okay, good. Just let me know the next time your mom invites me to dinner, and I'll make it a point to be there. Fair enough?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," Brittany said with a few more quick nods.

"Good. Well, I'm going to go ahead and drive home then, but I'll see you tomorrow, alright?"

"Okay, see you later," Brittany replied as she started walking over to her car, giving the brunette a small wave before she left.

* * *

Santana turned into her driveway fifteen minutes later, feeling completely relieved to finally have a chance to be alone after her terrible day. Swiftly making her way over to the front door, the brunette turned her key in the deadbolt and darted inside. Flipping the thumb turn back into the locked position, she spun around to head up to her bedroom. The brunette didn't get far, however, before she spotted her mother sitting the living room couch.

"Oh, to what do we owe this pleasure?" she sneered as soon as she made eye-contact with the older woman.

"Please cut the sarcasm, Santana. I've been sitting here for the past hour, waiting for you to get home. Where have you been?"

Ignoring her mother's inquiry, Santana asked, "Aren't you supposed to be at work?"

"I took off early."

"Where's your car?"

"In the garage."

"You never park in the garage during the day, nor do you simply just take off from work," the young Latina stated suspiciously as she finally started to catch on to what was happening.

"I know, but I have to talk to you about last night."

"And you were afraid I'd bail if I knew you were here," Santana assumed, already knowing she was right.

"Santana, please. We need to discuss this."

"Well, tough shit. I've had a long day, and I'm not really in the mood to talk right now so I guess we'll just have to finish this little chat another time," she snapped as she turned to make her way over to the staircase.

"Santana, wait! Santana!" the woman called out as she pushed herself up from the couch, but by that time, Santana had already dashed up to her bedroom, slamming the door and locking it behind her.

Suddenly, there was a rush of footsteps from outside the door, ending with a jiggle of the door handle and a few swift knocks. "Santana, I'm sorry, okay? Please, just open the door," the woman pled through the wooden barrier, which only caused Santana to turn on her stereo so she could drown out her mother's voice as the woman tried to coerce the young brunette into letting her inside.

Laying down on top of her bed, Santana buried her face into a pillow and allowed the blaring music to drown out her sobs as she felt her walls finally come tumbling down. All she could hope for now was for sleep to bring her a better day than the past twenty-four hours she had just experienced.

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_Hi, I just wanted to say a quick 'thank you' for taking the time to read my new story. With _Paperwoman _ending soon, I figured that now was a good time to begin my next one. This is going to be a definite change from the type of chapters I am used to writing, so__ I am really excited to get started._

_I would also like to thank my beta, _ruby-may89, _for her help with this chapter. If you haven't checked out her story _Only You, _then I highly recommend it__._

_Anyways, thank you so much again, and I hope to see you next time._


	2. Peacekeeper

_Santana arrived home after a long day at school to find her mother's car sitting in the driveway. Walking into the house, she called out to the woman to let her know she was home and decided to go searching for her when she didn't get an immediate response. Less than a minute later, she heard her mother's cellphone ringing from the other room, followed by the woman's voice answering the call._

_"Hello? ...Hey, how was your day? …Oh, well that's good. Mine's been alright. Just cooking some dinner before I go over to my sisters tonight."_

_Knowing exactly where the woman was, Santana made towards the kitchen find her mother standing in front the stove with her back to her. She was just about to step through the doorway when she suddenly heard the woman heave a sigh as she brought up a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose._

_"Yes, I understand that you would like to see me again. I want to see you, too, but I just don't have the time right now. Work's been crazy and my home life hasn't been much better… Of course I enjoyed the few days we spent together. It was honestly the most fun I've had in a long time."_

_Santana scrunched her eyes up in confusion. The only time she remembered her mother recently being away from the house was while she was at a conference a few weeks before. _

_At least, that's where she said she'd been. _

_The brunette could almost hear the gears start turning in her head as she continued to listen in to the telephone conversation._

_"Yeah, I understand that, but I can't just drop everything to be with you. I have a family to take care of and so do you... I know I said my husband and I have been having some issues, but we're working through them… No, I can't just leave him. We've built a life together, Jay. You need to understand that."_

_With those last few statements, Santana found herself unable to listen to the pair's exchange any further and decided to finally make her presence known._

_"Mom?"_

_"Oh, sh-" the older woman suddenly shouted, spinning around in surprise before cutting herself off and quickly spitting out, "Jason, I really need to go… I know, but I have to. We can talk about this more later… Okay, bye." The older Latina stood there for a moment, frozen in place with her cellphone still clutched in her left hand as it hung limply by her side. After a few seconds of agonizing silence, she finally managed to cautiously ask, "Santana, how much of that did you hear?"_

_"Enough," the young Latina bluntly stated before asking, "What the hell was that? Or better yet, _who_ was that?"_

_"That was- It was no one."_

_"Bullshit. Who was that?" she questioned again, only to get the same response._

_"I-it was no one. Just a friend from work."_

_"Really? Because that did not sound like a conversation between two friends. He asked you to leave your husband. He wouldn't have done that if he was 'just a friend' __to you," Santana growled out, snapping her hands up to make air quotations as she quoted her mother's words._

_"No, you got it wrong. You see, he-I, uh," she said as she quickly tried to formulate a way to explain to her daughter that she had simply misheard their conversation, but her mind was drawing a total blank._

_Santana ground her teeth together in annoyance as she caught on to what her mother was trying to do. "You know what, forget it. It's pretty obvious that I'm not going to get anything even remotely close to the truth, so let me know when you're ready to give me a straight answer," Santana stated lowly before she turned around and stormed out the front door._

* * *

Santana awoke with a start.

Glancing over to the digital clock on her nightstand, she lazily blinked a few times before her eyes were clear enough to read that it was only two o'clock in the morning, and she instantly let out a groan. It was the third night in a row that her sleep schedule had been cut short by the same nightmarish memories plaguing her dreams.

Rolling her head to face back up towards the ceiling, she closed her eyes and brought up a hand to cover them as she mentally prepared herself for another sleepless night.

The hours passed by slowly for the brunette, but her alarm eventually started to go off, signifying that it was time to start getting ready for morning practice. After sluggishly pulling herself up out of bed, Santana got dressed and quickly left the house before anyone else even had the chance to wake up.

The brunette somehow managed to drive herself to school without dozing off behind the wheel and pulled into the near empty parking lot. Walking up to the football field a few minutes later, she placed her bag in the bleachers with the other cheerleaders' things and immediately made her way over to her coach, knowing the woman would want to talk to her.

"Well, look who decided to show up for practice. Where were you yesterday, Sandbags?" Sue inquired dryly as she kept her eyes on the other girls, who were setting up for their first routine.

Ignoring the jab, Santana replied, "Sorry, Coach. I had some family business to tend to."

"What? Helping set up your parent's taco truck on the south part of town?"

"No, I didn't mean that kind of business," Santana commented through gritted teeth.

"I know. Now, start running, and don't even think about slacking off," Sue said without so much as a glance as she waved her off. Knowing that the statement meant that she was basically going to be running until Coach Sylvester told her to stop, Santana huffed out a frustrated sigh and got to running.

Time passed slowly as Santana continued to make her way around the track, but there was a small part of her that was grateful she wasn't running routines with the other girls that morning. She had already watched countless pyramid collapses, and Coach Sylvester looked like she was about to blow a gasket.

"Okay, I can't watch this train wreck anymore. I'm calling practice since you nimrods seem so hell-bent on giving me reoccurring nightmares about this squad's horrific cheerleading skills. Now, scram before I decide to corral you all up into a giant flat-rate box, pay the postage necessary to ship said box to the Island of Misfit Cheerios, and start over with a fresh new batch of girls who don't completely reek of mediocrity," Sue suddenly announced through her bullhorn before storming off the practice field. Just as Santana was beginning to think the coach had forgotten about her, she heard the woman yell out, "That means you, too, Boobs Magoo. Hit the showers."

Santana immediately stopped in her tracks as soon as she heard the order and bent over when her hands on her knees, clearly winded from her run.

"Looks like you finally got what was coming to you," Quinn mocked as she came walking by, bumping into the brunette to intentionally cause her to stumble forward slightly.

Pulling herself up to her full height, Santana retorted, "I might be a little winded, Tubbers, but that doesn't mean I can't come over there and sock you in the throat."

"Good luck with that, Hoepez. Hope you can catch up without passing out."

"Yeah? Well, I hope you can avoid crushing our best Cheerios the next time you cause the entire pyramid to collapse, Shamoo," Santana replied, but her words quickly lost their bite as she started to feel lightheaded. Watching a smug smirk make its way across the blonde's face, she unwilling let herself double over once more.

After taking another moment to regain her breath, she stood back up and started making her way towards the locker room. She didn't get far, however, before she felt her body quickly sway to the side. Thankfully, Brittany quickly came up out of nowhere and wrapped her arms around her waist to prevent her from falling over.

"Hey, are you okay?" Brittany asked in a concerned tone as she continued to help steady the girl.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I just stood up too quick."

"Are you sure? You look really tired. Maybe we should-"

"Look, I said I was okay so just drop it," Santana snapped as she pushed herself out of the blonde's hold and took a few quick but tentative steps away from her.

"A-alright. Sorry."

Hearing the sadness in Brittany's voice, Santana turned back around to find the blonde looking at her with a defeated expression. Pulling together her resolve, she walked back up to her and wrapped her up in a tight hug, "You have absolutely nothing to be sorry about, Britt. I'm the one who should be apologizing. I've been nothing but tired and crabby all morning, which is fine when it's directed towards everyone else, but you don't deserve to be treated like that. I know you were only trying to help."

"It's okay, San, I know that you're having to deal with a lot right now. I don't know what it is exactly you're going through, but I can see that it's making you sad and when you're sad, I'm sad," Brittany admitted with a pout.

Releasing her hold around the other girl, Santana brought her gaze up to meet Brittany's bright blue eyes, "Well, I'm going to do my best to not be so sad anymore, so you shouldn't feel that way either. Now, come on. I want to see that beautiful smile of yours."

"But San-"

"Please?" Santana drawled out with a small smile of her own.

"Okay," Brittany replied with a reluctant tone, but the look in her eyes told the brunette that she was just kidding. Suddenly, Brittany's lips split into a grin, causing Santana's smile to grow in response.

"See? I'm feeling better already."

Brittany gave her a playful eye roll, "Yeah, me too. Now, how about we head to the locker room to get dressed before we're late for class? I can't have you missing Glee anymore for detention. Yesterday just wasn't as fun without you there."

"Yeah, staying out of trouble sounds like a pretty good plan to me," Santana agreed with a laugh as the pair turned and started making their way back towards the school.

The rest of the day carried on just as it had since Santana began losing sleep. As the classes drug on, Santana felt the weight of her eyelids gradually become heavier until she finally dozed off.

* * *

_She had been sitting in the parking lot of the local park for the past hour when she heard her phone's text notification go off. Unlocking the screen, she opened up her messages to find one from the last person she wanted to hear from in that moment._

_From Mom: Santana, I know you probably won't reply to this message, but I just needed to ask for you to please not tell your father. I swear I'm working on finding the right way to tell him the truth. Please, just give me some time. I also wanted to let you know that I'll be at Aunt Virgie's for the evening, so you can go home whenever you're ready._

_Locking the device, she tossed it into the passenger seat and brought her hands up to grip the top of the steering wheel as she rested her forehead against the back of them._

_This day was getting worse for her by the second._

* * *

The final bell suddenly rang out through the classroom, effectively waking her up from her nap.

Snapping her head up from where it had been lying on her desk, she quickly looked around the room to find her classmates gathering up their things and exiting the room. Following their lead, she slipped her notes into her backpack and left to meet up with Brittany so they could walk to the choir room together.

Glee Club passed by slowly for the Latina as she watched each of the other members get up in front of everyone to sing their song selections for the week. From time to time, she could feel Brittany eyeing her from the chair next to her. The blonde had been keeping tabs on her ever since that morning, making sure that she was feeling at least a little better than she had been during practice.

After Glee, the pair walked together towards their cars, giving each other a brief farewell before slipping into their vehicles and going their separate ways.

Dinner was waiting for Santana when she got home, but she wasn't really in the mood to eat and quickly opted to just sleep instead.

After trying unsuccessfully for a few hours, Santana finally managed to fall into a light slumber. Her hopes of dreaming of something other than the night of her and her mother's fall out were dashed, however, as her dream picked up right where it had left off.

* * *

_She had just walked back through the front door of her house several hours later when she heard her father's voice call out from his office, "Santana, is that you?"_

_Not having realized that he was home, she felt her body immediately still with her mouth hanging open slightly as her eyes began darting nervously around the room. She had no idea what she was supposed to do in this situation and began searching her mind for something, _anything, _to say to him, but the words never came._

_Suddenly, she saw the man poke his head around the corner from where he stood in the hallway, _"_Hey, mija. Your mother called a little while ago to let me know that she got distracted while cooking earlier and accidentally burnt dinner, so it looks like you and I will have to fend for ourselves while she's at your Aunt Virgie's for the evening."_

_"Y-yeah, she had mentioned that she'd be over there tonight."_

_"Well, good. At least it's not a complete surprise, then," the man joked, but Santana's mind was too much of a mess to catch it._

_For a second, she considered telling him about everything that had transpired that day. Without thinking, she sputtered, "Dad, I-" but then got distracted by the man's curious gaze as their eyes met and felt her body freeze once more. When no further words fell from her mouth, she took a small breath and tried again, only managing to force out a sharp "I-" before losing her voice once more._

_Her dad gave her a questioning look, "Everything alright, Santanita?"_

_"I-I, uh," she stuttered uneasily, giving another brief pause before her brain finally caught up with her mouth, "Y-yeah, I think I'm just tired. Anyways, it's been a long day, so I think I'm going to go straight to bed."_

_"But I already picked you up some food," he said, motioning to the bag of takeout sitting on the counter top._

_Not being able to bear saying no to him in that moment, she quickly replied, "Oh, alright. I'll just take it up to my room, then. Thank you."_

_As soon as she got up to her room, she placed the to-go box she had been holding on her desk and almost immediately forgot about it as she flopped onto her bed to rest her eyes. Not wanting to waste the food, she eventually decided that she'd go sneak it back into the refrigerator, figuring her father would be too engrossed in watching Sports Center by then to notice her presence downstairs._

_She had just walked into the kitchen when she heard her father's voice suddenly ask, "Weren't hungry after all?"_

_Feeling her body give a little jump in surprise, she looked over to find the other man standing in front of the microwave, heating up his food. "Oh, I, uh- No, I wasn't. Sorry," she stumbled slightly before regaining her grip._

_"It's okay. Just take a little something back up with you just in case you get hungry before you go to bed, okay?"_

_"Yes, Sir. I will."**  
**_

_He gives her a quick nod in acknowledgement and bids her a quick 'good night' before turning to get his food out of the appliance and leaving the room. After she knew he was gone, she let out a shaky breath, forcing back the tears as she walked over to the cabinet to grab a granola bar and made her way back up to the safety of her bedroom._

* * *

Santana woke up to find her room shrouded in darkness. Too tired to check what time it was, she rolled over to go back to sleep, but the attempt was to no avail. After an hour of trying, she finally felt at the end of her rope and reached over to grab her cellphone off the nightstand. Scrolling through her contacts, she found the number she was looking for and dialed it.

The line continued to ring until she heard the phone pick up and a groggy voice suddenly ask, "Hello?"

"Hey, Britt-Britt. I'm really sorry to wake you up, but I was wondering if there was any way I could come over. I haven't been able to get a good night's rest in about five days, and I think I need to try something different so I can actually function at school."

"Yeah, you can come over. Just call me when you get here, and I'll come down to let you in," Brittany mumbled sleepily into the receiver.

"Alright. Thank you, Britt."

"Not a problem. See you soon, San."

"Bye. See you soon," Santana returned before ending the call. Gathering up everything she would need for the following day, she crept down the stairs and out the door without a sound.

Less than ten minutes later, she pulled into the familiar driveway and called her friend once more to inform the blonde of her arrival. Brittany met her at the front door with a small smile and as she held up a finger to her mouth to warn her to be quiet and led her up the stairs towards her room.

"Okay, we can talk now," Brittany quietly announced as she shut the door to the bedroom. Slowly spinning around to face her friend, she greeted her with a simple, "Hey."

"Hey, yourself," Santana returned with a chuckle.

The pair stood there for a moment before Brittany's face turned into a more concerned expression, "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I've just been having reoccurring nightmares for the past few nights, which has led to me getting very little sleep."

The blonde gave a nod in understanding, "Okay, I know you'd probably rather not talk about it, but I-"

"-will be there for me if I do," Santana finished with a knowing grin, which Brittany quickly returned as she gave another nod of her head. "Thank you, Britt-Britt."

"Anytime," the blonde stated as she flicked the lights off and moved to pull back the covers so they could slide into bed.

After getting comfortable, Santana blindly reached out towards Brittany in search of the other girl's hand and accidentally ended up bumping into her abdomen.

Santana immediately retracted her hand slightly in surprise, "Oops. Sorry, B."

"It's okay," Brittany replied, instantly knowing what the brunette was wanting her to do. Suddenly, Santana felt something wrap around her little finger and felt her body relax into the mattress. "Better?"

"Better," Santana answered as she released a contented sigh and closed her eyes. "Good night, Britt-Britt."

"Good night, San."

* * *

Brittany cracked her eyes open the next morning to find Lord Tubbington resting in his normal spot beside her and smiled before reaching out to pet him. She abruptly stopped the movement, however, when she felt something brush up the back of her shoulder. Carefully rolling onto her back, she found a sleeping Santana curled up beside her. Suddenly, the girl shifted forward slightly to press her face into the side of her arm, and she couldn't help but release the grin that pulled at her lips.

For the first time in days, the Latina looked completely relaxed.

Brittany laid there watching her for a minute before becoming aware of their close proximity. Feeling her heart flutter, she gently moved a lock of hair away from Santana's face and was instantly entranced by her friend's beauty. It wasn't until she heard a knock at her door that she managed to snap out of her daze.

"Brittany, are you up?" her mother asked through the barrier

The blonde felt her face warm as she realized just how easily Santana could have caught her and nervously looked to make sure there was no sign of her waking up before slipping out of bed to make her way across the room.

As soon as she opened the door, she quietly hushed the older woman and let her know that Santana was in there sleeping. After checking her alarm clock to make sure she would have enough time before she had to wake up Santana, she asked her mom if she could talk to her down stairs so she could explain what happened last night.

Receiving a small nod from the woman, the two quietly exited the room, leaving the Latina to sleep for a little longer.

* * *

Santana woke up about ten minutes later feeling more rested than she had in the past few days combined. While stretching her arms over her head, she tilted her head to the side and noticed the empty bed beside her.

Scrunching her eyes together, she rolled out of bed and walked downstairs to find Brittany talking to her mother in the kitchen. Santana couldn't hear what they're talking about since they're both speaking quietly, but Santana instantly noticed Brittany had a worried look on her face as she spoke to Mrs. Pierce.

Out of the corner of her eye, Brittany noticed Santana standing just outside the doorway and abruptly stopped talking.

Watching her daughter's attention move to the kitchen's entrance, Susan turned to see the young Latina looking at them. Letting a broad smile spread across her face, she greeted, "Good morning, Santana."

"Morning, Mrs. P." Noticing the pair of scrubs she was wearing, she asked, "You about to leave for work?"

"Yep, I was actually on my way out the door so I'll see you two later," the older woman informed as she went over to grab her purse and head towards the door.

"Alright. Tell my dad I said 'hi' if you see him around."

Mrs. Pierce turned around, giving her a smile, "Will do." And with that, she was out the door.

"Hey, how you feeling?" Brittany asked from behind her.

"Better. I actually slept through the night, so that was good," she said as she turned to face her. Catching the concerned look on Brittany's face, she decided to change the subject, "Anyways, we should probably go get ready for practice. No telling what Sue would do if I missed again."

Brittany silently agreed with a nod and lead her friend back upstairs to get dressed for yet another day of school.

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this chapter. I would also like to thank everyone who has followed, favorited, and reviewed the story. It is all very much appreciated._

_My last thank you goes to my beta, ruby-may89. Thank you so much for all your help!_

Anyways, I hope you all have a great day. See you next time!


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